Unhappy Anniversary
by Vivi007Nee
Summary: It's been seven years since Usopp left Syrup village...New Year's for Kaya. [OneShot][character death]


You ask me 

**How am I?**

**Well I'm still standing,**

**Aren't I?**

**That's something, that's one thing, that's gone my way.**

Merry's knocking at my door again. He must have heard me. This pillow isn't sufficient for muffling my weeping or coughing anymore. He's coming in my room, now, with a worried look, carrying a very ornate sterling silver tray.

**It's so hard to go on like everything's okay now,**

**When inside, I still cry, for yesterday.**

I furiously wipe my cheeks free of tears, and flip over my pillow, now covered in blood that I hacked up in one of my increasingly frequent coughing fits. I offer him a shaky, plastic smile as he sits down next to my bed. I won't let him see me cry. The only trace of family I have left shouldn't be burdened.

**This is my unhappy anniversary,**

I've noticed that not only Merry, but all of my servants had been very careful and on-edge around me today. It's not as if I don't know why, I just want this day to be over, so I can put on my mask again. This is the same day, ten years ago, that my parents left me…

**But I lie sayin' it's just another day.**

The only thing I used to need to get through this day would be some extraordinary, far-fetched lie…but even that's been taken away from me…

**This is my unhappy anniversary oh…**

**I know it's**

**So stupid**

**To still feel broken-hearted,**

**I wonder**

**If you know, just how much I hurt.**

Merry hands me a beautiful crystal glass, filled with some beverage that I assume to be alcoholic. I thank him and take a sip, my thoughts drifting to some faraway spot on the sea. Yes, he's gone now. He's left this dull village, off on wild adventures with his friends. The first and only man I've ever loved, taken away after three short years, I haven't heard from him in seven…

**I drink of, and think of, a toast to lonely hours.**

I hear Merry gasp, and look down to see that in my envious reverie, I've shattered the wine glass in my hand. I hide a pleased grin at the blood that trickles from my hands where the glass cut me. Merry frantically rushes off to get a towel to clean up the mess, leaving me in this empty room, with an empty windowsill, and an empty branch right outside. Empty, yet full of haunting memories…

**To get through, **

**Without you, **

**Is so hard today.**

My eyes drift throughout the room, to said sill, then said branch. That branch, that on any other day would look welcoming, green, and full of life, was now bleak and scary. It was New Year's, in the dead of winter, so nothing was green or joyful, but somehow I'd never expected that branch to go cold like everything else…like me…

'**Cause it's my unhappy anniversary,**

I feel a familiar sensation brewing in my upper body. A tingling feeling that I know all too well…then it hits me. My years and years of pain were all connected to one thing: Usopp. This mental anxiety had turned physical whenever I thought of him, as though my body knew what was coming. Or rather…leaving. I have no time to ponder this discovery, as the pain comes full force, worse than ever before. My mind goes blank as I clutch my chest, and close my eyes tightly.

**But I lie sayin' it's just another day**

I hear my shrieks echo throughout the empty room, the empty halls and corridors, and back through my empty heart: "That's all I want! Just a lie! Just one!" It seems as though I've lost control of my voice, that any emotion that I have left is speaking on it's own, using my vocal chords to make its message heard… "I just need a lie…"

**This is my unhappy anniversary, oh…**

**(Wishing you were here, same time next year,**

**Wishing you were here, same time next year…)**

**And now it's**

**New midnight**

**A few more minutes and I'll**

**Return to; get back to, my normal life**

I flop down lifelessly onto my bed, silent tears creeping down pale cheeks. I haven't the strength needed to cry. I hear footsteps hurriedly making their way back to my room. It'll be awhile before my caretaker gets here, I still have a little time to myself.

**Pretending**

**Our ending**

**Was not so bad**

**I know that**

**It's time to escape you,**

**Well, until next year…**

I shakily take the crystal wine glass that Merry was using, bring it to my lips, and down the contents in one gulp. I then glance back at the clear, jagged shards strewn across my bed, weighing my options. I pause before picking one up, examining it. I brush it against the fair skin of my left wrist, automatically flinching at the pain. Despite my reflexes, I push the glass in a bit harder, a bit deeper. Again, I hide a pleased little smirk at the crimson pain that releases itself from my arm, then switch to the other, doing the same.

**When it's my unhappy anniversary,**

Merry reenters my room, even more worried than before from hearing my scream. He stops immediately after seeing the blood on my arms. I merely smile calmly, wondering what his reaction will be. He suddenly lunges forward, wrenching the broken shard of crystal from my grasp. He's dropped to his knees in front of me, and is embracing me tightly. His body is shaking, so I assume that he's crying. I feel a pang of guilt, more emotion than I knew I had left. My lifelong caretaker is here, sobbing hysterically, because of my actions. Ah, I'm crying now, too. But it isn't my fault! It's his! It's the liar's fault, I could do this if he were here…I rest my head on Merry's shoulder, and close my eyes.

**But I lie sayin' it's just another day,**

"Merry…" I'm surprised I have enough strength to talk. "…Please… I'm so tired…just one more lie…" He cries harder at this, but I don't regret my last request. I then hear him speaking angrily, insistently.

"Please, Kaya, don't do this! You'll be okay! You'll get better like you promised, Usopp will come back for you and stay, things will be like they used to, please, just hang on!"

**This is my unhappy anniversary,**

**But I smile like it's just another day.**

I smile contentedly. He probably didn't even hear my request, but he certainly gave me what I asked for: a lie. Who'd have thought it would end this way? I muse to myself, then, for the first time in years, I feel happy and relieved. I give my father figure a final embrace, then relax my arms around him. "Thank you, Merry, that was a good one…"

**It's just my unhappy anniversary,**

**It's just my unhappy anniversary, oh…**

_Oiii…depressing much? I mean…wow. I don't like character death fics like this, but I vowed to help the OP fictions get to 1000 so that we could have better searching options. Sorry if it sucked, but don't tell me so. _

_One Piece and everything about it belong to Eiichiro Oda._

_The song in bold print belongs to Vitamin C._

_Reviews make me happy, flames make me cry. Luffle y'all! _

_Ooo, also, I have some OP fanart, nothing much, but it's all inspired by other fanfictions on here. Only two: I have 'Mewllorine!' Inspired by 'All My Pirates' by madri, and 'Chu!', inspired by a great fanfic whose name I don't know. Oh well, I'll find out and rewrite this last sentence, ja? Luv ya! Review, and go read 'All My Pirates'!_


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